Trump meets military brass to discuss cutting F-35 costs

December 22, 2016 08:47

US President-elect Donald Trump has met with some of the US military's top brass to discuss ways of reducing costs, particularly for the F-35 stealth fighter programme.

The meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida came after Trump last week blasted the F-35's costs as "out of control" in a message on Twitter.

Several three- and four-star generals and admirals attended the meeting, including the F-35 program chief Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan.

"Trying to bring costs down," Trump said when asked what the meeting was about.

"Primarily the F-35, trying to get the costs down. A program that is very, very expensive."

With a current development and acquisition price tag of USD 379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft -- most of them destined for the Air Force -- the Lockheed Martin-built plane is the most expensive in history, and costs are set to go higher still.

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